Directions and Blood Relations

Overview

Directions and Blood Relations form a core component of the Reasoning section in HTET across all three levels (PRT, TGT, PGT). These topics test your ability to visualise spatial orientation and decode family relationships—skills that reflect logical thinking capacity expected of teachers.

Direction sense questions typically account for 2–4 questions per paper, while blood relations may appear as standalone puzzles or combined with coding. Mastery here offers quick, reliable marks since the underlying logic is finite and learnable. Unlike arithmetic, these problems reward methodical diagramming over calculation speed.

Students must internalise the eight-point compass, shadow-based direction inference, and a systematic approach to family trees. Once the mental framework is solid, even complex multi-step problems become mechanical.

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Key Concepts

**Direction Sense:**

• The compass has 8 standard directions: North (N), South (S), East (E), West (W), and four intermediates—North-East (NE), North-West (NW), South-East (SE), South-West (SW).
• A person turning "right" rotates clockwise; turning "left" rotates anti-clockwise.
• At sunrise, your shadow falls towards the West; at sunset, it falls towards the East. At noon, the shadow is shortest and points North (in India, which lies north of the equator).
• Displacement and direction are different: total distance walked is not the same as straight-line distance from start to end.

**Blood Relations:**

• Every relation can be traced through three basic links: parent-child, spouse, and sibling.
• Gender indicators include words like son, daughter, brother, sister, husband, wife, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece.
• "Only son/daughter" or "no siblings" are critical constraints—they eliminate extra family members.
• Coded blood relations substitute symbols (e.g., A + B means A is father of B) and require decoding before solving.

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Formulas / Key Facts

| Fact | Explanation | |------|-------------| | Right turn = +90° clockwise | From North → East → South → West → North | | Left turn = +90° anti-clockwise | From North → West → South → East → North | | Opposite directions | N↔S, E↔W, NE↔SW, NW↔SE | | Shadow at sunrise | Falls to the West (sun in East) | | Shadow at sunset | Falls to the East (sun in West) | | Father's or Mother's son | Brother (or self if "only son") | | Father's or Mother's daughter | Sister (or self if "only daughter") | | Brother's/Sister's son | Nephew | | Brother's/Sister's daughter | Niece | | Father's brother | Uncle (Chacha/Tau) | | Mother's brother | Maternal uncle (Mama) | | Son's wife | Daughter-in-law (Bahu) | | Daughter's husband | Son-in-law (Damaad) |

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